MikePaling

I am not sure if I can help you much with your problem George. I have had some problems with MaximDL (v6..2) over the last 18 months and must admit I am getting fed up at times :-( I feel that Maxim is a "bit flaky" and cannot be relied upon all of the time :-(( My main problems seem to happen when I ask it to find my focus using the "V-curve" system in Maxim. Too often it just gets stuck and I have to re-start it which "usually" sorts it out .... but not always. Last night, as I was a bit short of time so didn't even try to use SEQUENCE, I came across a new problem. I asked Maxim to take a series of 5x300sec CLS images and I set Maxim to "dither" between the separate images. After taking the first image I got a message saying "Waiting" and just stuck there until I got very bored. As soon as I started to close Maxim down I got another message saying "Waiting for telescope" .... at which point I had to close everything down quickly including Autoslew. But of course I then had to quickly open up Maxim again as I had to warm up my CCD from -20c in a controlled manner. It is very possible that I had not set up Maxim correctly but I gave up at this point. In the last 18 months I have had to completely uninstall Maxim and reinstall to get it working again. I am hoping to use Sequence at the next opportunity ... and hopefully the "focusing" routine will work OK without Maxim making any conflicts. Am I correct in thinking that Maxim "has to be used" with Autoslew and Sequence on my DDM60 Pro?? There are no alternatives? I understand that Diffration Limited are no longer spending any time Maxim's development. What sort of set-up do the people who have the professional sized mounts & scopes? Do they use Maxim???

Hi ... I am confused about "Apparent Coordinates" and "J2000 Coordinates" being entered into Sequence .... can anybody help to clarify? Very late last night I was attempting to carry out a series of imaging runs using Sequence in order to eventually make a mosaic of part of the sky. Because of this I needed to enter the coordinates into the "Target Details" window in Sequence (see attached jpeg) for each separate run. In preparation for doing this I took several quick images using MaximDL until I had the areas of sky where I needed in my cameras FOV. I then took the RA & Dec information from the Autoslew screen and I entered these coordinates into the "Target Details " window in Sequence ready for a full set of Sequence runs. At this point I realised that I was not 100% certain which box on the "Target Details" window in Sequence in order to enter the coordinates from Autoslew :-( I am attaching two jpegs to show what I am talking about ... hopefully it will make sense! I can't seem to spot anything to really help me in the various ASA manuals. Rather than waste my time last night (the temp was falling below zero) so I decided to pack things up until I could find out what was the correct way to enter the coordinates. Any guidance with this would be very much appreciated. Cheers Mike

Hi again ... I have now managed to get SGP to produce mosaic coordinates that I can feed into ASA Sequence. Actually I am spoilt for choice now .... thanks to Thomas I can also get the same data out of PixInsight :-))))) Mike

Hi Thomas .... Many thanks for this ... it worked :-))))) Mike

Hi again Thomas ... I have been following the steps in your tutorial ... but I keep hitting a brick wall :-((( I have been working with the very same Deep Sky Object that you had used ( IC 2177 ) as well as a couple of objects that I am interested using images from WikiSky. All goes well until I ask PixInsight to use the " ImageSolver" script and then ask it Plate Solve desoite me applying all settings that you show. I get a message saying that " no stars can be detected" ... I will cut&paste the last bit of the log .... ****************** Please check the following items: The initial coordinates should be inside the image. I( did the nessessary search for IC2177 and got the coordinates same as yours) The initial resolution should be within a factor of 2 from the correct value. (I set the scale of wikisky image and focal distance same as yours) Adjust the star detection sensitivity parameter, so that the script can detect most of the stars in the image without mistaking noise for stars. (Tried several different settings) The catalogue should be matched to the image. Choose the appropriate catalog and magnitude filter, so that the number of stars extracted from the catalog can be similar to the number of stars detected in the image. ( Used UCAC3) *********************** Any idea what I might be doing wrong ??? I did try changing the star magnitude settings to make it more sensitive ... no change. Interestingly ... I have carried out the whole process using an old FITS image that I took a few months ago, instead of using an image from WikiSky .... this time PixInsight picked up the stars and I was able to produce the coordinates for a mosaic with no problems. However ... I would ideally like to plan a mosaic in advance without the need for taking any initial FITS files of my intended object .... if possible. Any suggestions what I might be doing wrong with the WikiSky images???? Mike

Wow Thomas ..... this looks just great !!!! I have just had a very quick look at the tutorial (it's late) and I can see what I have to do :-))) I will be giving in a full try-out tomorrow and see where it takes me. Cheers Mike

Hi .... Thanks for this suggestion. I have downloaded the full trial version of SGP .... I have made some very tentative steps of trying to use it to get the mosaic coordinates for an object but failing badly to make much progress at the minute :-((( I will be trying to make progress at every opportunity ... but I might have to ask you for a bit of help at times if that's OK. Cheers Mike

Hi Thomas ... Thanks for this ... it looks as if it might help me greatly .... if I can get it to work :-((( I do have PixInsight but I don't use it very often as I find it VERY confusing at the moment! I have spend almost all of today trying to follow your steps but keep hitting a brick wall. I have done a screen shot of a well known deep space object on "WikiSky" web site and saved it in 2 formats ... jpeg and tiff. I have then open these up in PixInsight, in turn, and found the ImageSolver script .... but when I ask PI to use I get messages saying that it is unable to plate solve and get the coordinates. I have yet to find the MosaicPlanner script in PixInsight :-( Are you able to explain what I might be doing wrong here ? ... bearing in mind that I am struggling with PixInsight ! Cheers Mike

Hi ... At some point in the future I would like to make some images of objects that are larger than my FOV by making a set of images to form a mosaic after processing. Has anybody attempted this using Sequence??? A friend has suggested that I purchase Sequence Generator Pro and use this program to work out the coordinates for each panel and then enter this into ASA Sequence. I am prepared to purchase SGP .... if it works !!!! Has anybody experience of doing either of these methods? Cheers Mike

I can now confirm that my copy of Sequence is working properly :-) My problem looks like it was a corrupted "PersonalSettings .config" file probably caused by interrupting an imaging run. I am using v211 ... is v213 a beta version that has not been officially released yet? Mike

Hi Mark .. I was told a few days ago that I my Moravian G2 Mono CCD does NOT have any special readout modes so I have now been set by ticking the relevant box. Hopefully that will solve one of my problems. I also found out that my initial problem was probably caused by my Sequence "PersonalSettings" file .config file was probably corrupted when I stopped a Sequence run while it was running. I was advised to delete this file and start over again. Apparently this can happen on occasions. All seems to be working OK when I do some dummy runs ... but I need to check things out properly when I get a clear night sky. Mike

Hi Mark ... thanks for you thoughts about my problem. As far as I know my cables are OK and definitely don't get snagged in any position. I have just spotted a second log file that Sequence produced after it stopped working ... not seen this sort of thing before. Looking at the timings this log must have been produced when I closed Sequence down approx. 4 minutes after it stopped working. The log had this single line on it ... " Readoutmode reading from Maxim failed ! " When I look at the various settings panels inside Sequence ... on the CCD setup screen on the top right there is a small tick box about "readout modes from the CCD " ... there is no mention of this tick box in my Sequence manual .... my manual must be for a slightly earlier version. Do you have this box ticked or not ???? Could this Tickbox possibly be the source of my problems? Mike

Hi folks .. Last night I set Sequence to do a run of 5 x 500 sec H alpha subs and after doing and saving the first two subs it came up with an error message and stopped working. All other software and scope continued unaffected. I restarted Sequence with the same set of instructions ... same thing. I did get an error massage on the screen after Sequence stopped working .... which I am going to attach to this message. When I check the Sequence log there is no sign at the end of the log that anything unusual happened ... the log just stops recording after the second sub had been saved ... nothing about a problem happening. The 500sec subs that did get saved look to be OK ... but I haven't got around to doing anything with them yet. I have been using Sequence for the last two years without any similar problems ... but I don't often ask it to do subs longer than 300 sec. As I am trying to image a fairly faint object at the minute I really need to do some longer subs .... if possible! Does anybody have any ideas why I am having this problem??? ERROR MESSAGE FROM SEQUENCE.txt

Hi Mark ... Thanks for this .... I think that I will wait until the Autumn to upgrade ... when the skies are darker earlier. Mike

Hi Mark ... I had a look at my "Current Configuration" on my version (v5219) .... and it shows "Superfit" and "Superfit East" ........ so does this mean that it is doing superfit automatically? Mike Hi Waldemar & Mark ... Not sure if I should upgrade to v5240 ..... is it possible that I might get some problems if I upgrade? Would I do it over the top of my existing version ... or do I have to delete v5219 first ???? Mike

Hi Ralph ... I have only just spotted your comment ... sorry! My version of Autoslew is v5.2.1.9 ..... and it clearly has the Advanced Pointing Control there in the tabs along the top of the Autoslew window. I would have thought that, if a Super Fit produces such a big improvement in the pointing file , then it would be sensible to make it "Automatic" rather than having to do loads of confusing manual steps. At the minute I have no idea if the APC/Super fit is "automatic" or "not" in my version of Autoslew. Does it show up in the latest version of Autoslew???? Mike

Hi John ... Thanks for your thoughts .. I may well write to ASA Support about this. Phillipp Keller (who wrote the software) has made a YouTube video about Advanced Pointing Control for use with a very long focal length scope .... but it is VERY rushed and lacks clear explanations of how & why it is done ..... I need to have a bit more clarity before I ever try it out on my system :-( Mike

Hi again .. I can see that several people have viewed my post ... but no answers to my plea for help at the minute :-( I am attaching a Word Doc showing the Autoslew "Advanced Pointing Control" window along with some comments about where I am having problems trying to understand the process. I could see that when I did my last Autopointing file the errors were around 0.1arc minutes for both axes ... but I would like to be able to improve on this by using the APC option in Autoslew ... if possible. Advanced Autopinting Control WINDOW.doc Cheers Mike

Hi .... I am hoping that somebody out there has experience of using Advanced Pointing Control to optimize and improve an existing Autopointing file. Advanced Autopinting Control WINDOW.doc I am using a DDM60 Pro. I have already posted this question on the DDM60 forum but it seems that nobody there is able to help me with this at the moment so I hope that you don't mind me asking this forum as well. When I open up the APC window, and load up my last Autopointing file, I am faced with a confusing array of tick boxes and icons and I don't know where to start and what order to do things. I can't even see what I have to do to save the resulting modified pointing file after I have finished trying to produce a "super fit" file as it is not clear of the final results are saved :-((( My Autoslew manual is not very helpful with any of this and I am unable to make any progress. I am attaching a Word Doc showing the Autoslew Autopointing Control Window which shows what areas I am confused about. Can some king person point me in the right direction? Mike

Hi ... I am hoping that somebody out there has experience of using Advanced Pointing Control to optimise and improve an existing Autopointing file. When I open up the APC, and load up my last Autopointing file I am faced with a confusing array of tick boxes and I don't know where to start and what order to do things. I can't even see what I have to do when I have finished trying to produce a "super fit" file as it is not clear of the final results are saved :-((( My Autoslew manual is not very helpful with any of this and I am unable to make any progress. Can some king person point me in the right direction? Mike

Hi Mark ... I could not switch off anything on my laptop .... it was completely locked up. The only way out was to do a hard restart. Mike

Last night, after waiting for almost 3 weeks for a clear sky, I set off Sequence to carry out a run 7 x 1200 sec CLS subs. After it had finished taking the 5th sub I had to close down my whole system to deal with a minor family problem. I clicked on the "STOP" icon on Sequence and it immediately crashed causing my Laptop to completely lock up. The only way out was to shut down my computer and restart which took some time. I must admit that I was VERY concerned that my CCD was warming up too quickly before I could connect back to it using MaximDL ... but after a check my CCD seems to be OK :-) This time anyway! Does anybody know what caused Sequence to crash like this???? Is it impossible to stop a Sequence run once it has started ? .... or is there a "correct" way of doing it? I normally operate my system remotely from my house PC after once I have got things going and I have a weather monitor to tell me if there is any cloud or rain detected. In these circumstances I do not go outside constantly to check on weather changes while doing lengthy Sequence runs. I am concerned that problems my may well occur if I detect that some bad weather is coming along and I am unable to stop Sequence, without crashing, and so causing delay in getting my whole system to be closed up quickly and safely without damage. Any help and suggestions would be most gratefully received. Mike

Hi folks ... I hope that somebody can help me here. I am just about to get into using Sequence for some serious imaging runs ... but I have noticed that in the area where you set up the exposures the tick box for telling Sequence to arrange for images to be "Grouped by slot " is missing. This feature is clearly shown in any Sequence manual that I have .... but it isn't there on my version of Sequence when I get it up on my screen! I am using v 0.2.1.1. .... has this option been removed since the manuals were published ? .... or has it been moved somewhere else that I haven't spotted??? Mike

Hi folks .... I hope that have posted this in the correct section. I have been merrily taking LRGB images for a few months now and generally getting used to how things work. I would now very much like to improve my set-up by adding the focusing offsets for my filters .... but I after reading up about this I am getting somewhat confused :-( In addition to my refracting scope my set-up is as follows: (A) Moravian G2 8300 CCD with internal 5 position filter wheel with all slots filled. The order that my filters are set up (starting from position one) as follows ..... R,G,B,CLS,Ha. ( B ) Autoslew, Optec Focus Lynx focuser, MaximDL and Sequence I have already carried out a preliminary V-curve focusing run for the R,G,B,CLS filters to see what focusing differences there are with each filter. I have not tried the Ha filter yet. I do know that I need to do more runs and take the average value for each filter to work out the best fit offset. I understand that it is NOT normal to have negative off-sets. At the moment, using my preliminary results, starting with the lowest figure set at zero, the order that my filters come in at is: G, B, R, CLS. I am not sure if these results are "normal". However, assuming that I do get a full set of offset figure when the skies permit .... I now am trying to understand how to add these filter focusing off-sets into my system. There seems to be 3 options here and I do not know which is the correct one. Option One: I can see that I can put them straight into my Moravian CCD ... there is a file in the software to allow me to do this. Option Two: I can see that there is a section in the focusing area of MaximDL where I can type the data in. Option Three: I can see there is a place in Sequence where I can put the data in .... or does Sequence read this from the CCD anyway ... or even read it from MaximDL ???? There is another fly in the ointment for me which adds to my confusion .... Looking at Sequence .... I can see that my Red filer is set to "Zero" .... and the off-set for this filter looks as if it cannot be changed. Does this mean that I have to set up some filters with a negative value??? I am not sure if this is possible. How do I get around it if it is not possible? Any help and suggestions to get rid of my "confusion" would be very much appreciated. Regards Mike

Thanks Thomas for this .... I understand now. Mike